The music of Slovakia has been influenced both by the county's native Slovak peoples and the music of neighbouring regions. Whilst there are traces of pre-historic musical instruments, the country has a rich heritage of folk music and mediaeval liturgical music, and from the 18th century onwards, in particular, musical life was influenced by that of Austria-Hungary. In the 19th century, composers such as Jan Levoslav Bella began to write romantic music with a Slovak character. In the twentieth century, there were a number of composers who identified with Slovak culture. After the fall of communism in 1989–90 the country also began to develop its own popular music scene in Western style.
Thomas Adès is a British composer, pianist and conductor.
Collegium Vocale Gent is a Belgian musical ensemble of vocalists and supporting instrumentalists, founded by Philippe Herreweghe. The group is dedicated to historically informed performance.
Budapest is the capital and largest city of Hungary; it has long been an important part of the music of Hungary. Budapest's music history has included the composers Franz Liszt, Ernő Dohnányi, Zoltán Kodály and Béla Bartók and the opera composer Ferenc Erkel.
Gulnara Mashurova was born in Almaty, Kazakhstan. She started piano studies at the age of 6 and by age 9 was chosen to study harp at the Pre Moscow Conservatory with Natalia Sibor. From 1991–93 she studied with Vera Dulova at the Moscow Conservatory. ashurova received a bachelor's and master's degree in harp performance from the Juilliard School as a Jerome Green full scholarship recipient studying under Nancy Allen, Principal Harpist of the New York Philharmonic. She received her second Masters in Orchestra Performance with a full scholarship from the Manhattan School of Music studying under Deborah Hoffman, Principal Harpist of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra.
Walter Hilgers is a German tuba player. He performs worldwide as orchestral musician, soloist, academic music teacher, arranger and conductor.
Daniel Kellogg is an American composer. Kellogg is Assistant Professor of Music at the College of Music of the University of Colorado at Boulder, teaching music composition, counterpoint and orchestration.
The Taipei Philharmonic Orchestra is a Taiwanese orchestra based in Taipei.
Peter Machajdík['maxajɟik] is a contemporary Slovak composer, sound and visual artist. He was born and grew up in Bratislava, Slovakia and lives in Berlin, Germany.
David Porcelijn is a Dutch composer and conductor.
Štefan Margita is a Slovak opera singer who has had an active international career since 1981. He began his career singing mostly roles from the lyric tenor repertoire but in recent years he has tackled a number of dramatic tenor roles. His career has taken him to the stages of many of the world's best opera houses, including La Scala, the Royal Opera, London, the Deutsche Oper Berlin, the Liceu, and the Opéra Bastille. Margita has had his debut performance at the Metropolitan Opera in November 2009 as Luka Kuzmič in Leoš Janáček's From the House of the Dead.
Ernst Märzendorfer was an Austrian conductor.
Carlo Ponti Jr. is an Italian orchestral conductor working in the United States. He is the son of late film producer Carlo Ponti Sr. and Italian actress Sophia Loren and he is the older brother of film director Edoardo Ponti.
Michael Rosenzweig, born 1951 in Oranjezicht, a suburb of Cape Town, is a South African composer, conductor and jazz musician.
Since 1994 the finest pre-professional youth orchestras of Europe have been working closely together and have formed an association known as the European Federation of National Youth Orchestras (EFNYO). With its 38 member organisations to date, EFNYO provides a platform for the exchange of expertise in music training and performance between the leading national and international youth orchestras of Europe and takes over responsibility for skilling future generations of musicians. In this regard, the Federation truly benefits from its unique position at the interface of higher music education and the music profession.
William (Bill) Barbini is an American violinist. He took his diploma from Juilliard School in 1970, studying with Ivan Galamian among others. He thereafter became one of the youngest members selected to the New York Philharmonic violin section. During his tenure with the NY Philharmonic, Barbini also performed as principal violinist with the Gramercy String Quartet. With Barbini as principal, the Gramercy was commissioned by Pierre Boulez for a number of pre-concert performances at Avery Fisher Hall. While in New York, Barbini also served as concertmaster for the Joffrey Ballet and soloist with the Festival Orchestra at the Norwalk Performing Arts Festival.
The Bratislava Music Festival is an international festival of classical music that takes place annually in the city of Bratislava, Slovakia. It is a major Slovak musical event. The festival is organised by the Slovak Philharmonic and its honorary president is Edita Gruberová.
The Solati Trio is a Rhode Island based classical music ensemble. The trio—Ludmilla Lifson (piano), Sophia Herman (violin), and Hrant Tatian (cello)—was formed in 1984 and has premiered many works by contemporary composers which were written for and dedicated to the ensemble.
Quasars Ensemble, founded in 2008 in Slovakia is a professional musical ensemble focusing on classical and contemporary music.
